PIX: Amid gloom of terror, Syrians flee their country

PIX: Amid gloom of terror, Syrians flee their country

The nightmare for the people of Syria just refuses to die down. Although the majority of citizens in the country are trying their best to topple down the 'tyrannical' regime of Bashar al-Assad, the despot and his army have unleashed a wave of terror and violence attacking its own men, women and children.

According to sources cited by the United Nations, up to 8,000 to 11,000 people have been killed, primarily protesters but also including 2,200 to 3,600 armed combatants.Many more have been injured, and tens of thousands of protesters have been imprisoned.

However, the lives of thousands of common Syrians have changed forever, with many compelled to flee from their country and take shelter in refugee camps on its borders with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

More than a year has passed since the wave of Arab Spring touched Syria, but still the ground reality has been far from normal.

Rediff.com presents some pictures capturing the terrified lives of defenceless Syrian refugees as they struggle to make a new beginning.

A Syrian refugee prays as his family sits in front of their tent at a refugee camp in the Turkish border town of Yayladagi in Hatay province.

PIX: Amid gloom of terror, Syrians flee their country

Syrian children shout at a refugee camp in the Turkish border town of Altinozu in Hatay province. Words on the forehead of the boy (L) read "Down with Bashar" and words on his chest read "Children of Heaven". A small banner (R) reads "Bashar, leave".

PIX: Amid gloom of terror, Syrians flee their country

A tray of food lies next to a wounded Syrian man on a hospital bed in Antakya city, Hatay province in Turkey, close to the Syrian border. Thousands have crossed the border from Syria to Turkey marking a sharp acceleration in numbers fleeing unrest in Syria.

PIX: Amid gloom of terror, Syrians flee their country

A Syrian refugee woman gives her child a shower in the kitchen of an abandoned school in Wadi Khaled area, northern Lebanon. More than 3,800 displaced Syrian refugees have registered with the United Nations refugee agency in north Lebanon, which borders Syria's Homs province, a particularly bloody centre of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

PIX: Amid gloom of terror, Syrians flee their country

A Syrian refugee child sleeps at a mosque at the northern Lebanese border village of Boqaya, near the Lebanese-Syrian border. From the Lebanese village of Boqaya, Syrian soldiers could be seen across the border deploying along a stream in Arida village and entering homes. Lebanese soldiers also fanned out across their side of the frontier.

PIX: Amid gloom of terror, Syrians flee their country

Syrian boys walk shoulder to shoulder in the rain at the Boynuyogun refugee camp on the Turkish-Syrian border in Hatay province. There are 1,750 Syrian refugees living in the camp which was set up by the Turkish Red Crescent.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry says there are currently some 10,000 Syrian refugees living in six different camps in Turkey.